Does having more stuff make us happier?

The title to this post is a teaser, of course. After a certain point, having more stuff does not make people happier. In his new book, Deep Economy: the Wealth of Communities and a Durable Future (2007), Bill McKibben asks why having more stuff usually doesn't make us happier. He…

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A Case Study in Circular Reasoning: Herman Cummings

I stumbled onto this fellow as a respondent on other blogs or the subject in yet others. Herman Cummings is an active proponent of Biblical truth over Scientific Inquiry. Why don't I just say "Creationism"? Because Herman argues against them, as well. He has nothing good to say about "Intelligent…

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Please don’t send me any store-bought greeting cards!

I know that pre-written store-bought greeting cards are not the cause of America’s current downfall, but they are a symptom of America’s cultural, moral and educational decline. Really. I know that many of you are thinking that I’m way off base here, but let me give you a few examples based on today’s trip to my local grocery store (the name of the St. Louis grocery chain is “Schnucks”).

First of all, I just don’t get why we need to segregate “boy” cards from “girl” cards. Take a look at these cards for boys and you won’t be surprised at the themes. There are lots of superhero cards and other action/adventure characters and themes.

boys greeting cards

Now compare the “boys” cards to the “girls” cards, where you’ll find princesses and other characters much more concerned about their looks than with their accomplishments.

girls greeting cards

As if girls don’t enjoy superhero stories (my daughters certainly do) or anything other than trying to look pretty. This greeting card sexual segregation reminds me of this recent post on America’s rampant sexualization of young girls.

There are also cards for men and cards for women, of course, and they too are segregated. Why do we use greeting cards to instill a message into our girls and women that they should be interested in their own looks and body image to the exclusion of their accomplishments? This destructive message should be stopped immediately, especially when so many girls are getting messed up by this message, which causes them to

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Al Jazeera takes a look at Kentucky voter attitudes regarding race

This is a fascinating video, which I learned of at Daily Kos. Now that we've dragged some of those wacko preachers out into the limelight, maybe it's time to focus those cameras on the bigots.  Sunshine is great disinfectant. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8J9laUNgL4&eurl=http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/22/142132/498/133/520573[/youtube]

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The accomplishments of President George W. Bush

According to the AP, George W. Bush recently did a good and honorable thing: President Bush is backing legislation to prevent people from losing their jobs or health insurance based on genetic testing. Bush on Wednesday signed into law an anti-discrimination measure that drew enormous support in Congress. It forbids…

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